Thursday, December 29

The Artful Blogger

With only 2 days left of 2011, I suppose it is time to reveal some of my resolutions for the coming year. One of them includes this blog and another, Hakanasa. I know I have been a neglectful and often absentminded blogger. I have had second thoughts about maintaining a blog, about spending so much time online. But now with the other shorter forms of social media, I have become quite fond of the blog. It gives me room to breathe and share. This blog in particular serves the practical purpose of connecting our daily family life with our distant friends and family. So one of my resolutions for 2012 is to post here daily, even if it is just a photograph and a caption. I want to become more disciplined and I want to have a better record of our time. I have an offline project such record-keeping corresponds to but I will save the details for another day. So starting on the first, each post will be numbered by the day of the year and if I am faithful, by this time next year the title of the post will be 364. More than my current total of posts in my entire five year history of blogging.

As for my other blog, Hakanasa is a space for me to share things that are of a more Tiffany-centric nature. Things about Buddhism, education, ecology, literature, and art + craft. It will resemble my journal more than this blog does but not in an intimate teenage way. In my offline journal (aka a spiral bound drawing pad), I keep newspaper clippings, sketches of things that catch my eyes, laundry lists, and ideas that need to be saved for later. It is a cumbersome thing with scraps of paper and dried leaves slipping out if opened too quickly. The online version will hopefully be less messy though I make no promises. I started it because I feel that my online identity is a little stunted and I wanted a room of my own to define myself better. With four(!) kids, such a place is inconceivable offline so I am looking forward to moving into the new blog and making it my own space. You are welcome to visit if you wish. Beware though, I will not be as guarded as I am here since when I write on this blog I am supremely conscious of the fact that my family is reading and I tend to be inhibited. Over on Hakanasa, I will post blind to the idea of my potential audience.

As for the name, Hakanasa, it is a Japanese term that I became enamored with last year as the cherry blossoms floated on the warm breeze despite the collective mourning period we were suffering through after March. This post has a little more on the term and my blog will favor the third definition.

I'll drop by tomorrow with some more resolutions. Until then my friends, take care.